Nuclear club guilty of hypocrisy on Iran

I’M surprised by the lack of critical analysis of the so-called Iranian nuclear crisis in the Irish media.

We are bombarded with the message that it is only the Iranians (and the North Koreans of course) who are being irresponsible in their determination to enrich uranium.

The claim by Iran that their sole purpose is to generate electricity is widely disbelieved, undoubtedly with some justification.

But what is never mentioned in our media is the hypocrisy of the US and Britain, and France to a lesser extent, in relation to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran has signed it, but Pakistan, India and particularly Israel, all of whom possess nuclear weapons acquired by stealth, are not signatories. These three are currently US allies and therefore apparently subject to different rules.

One of the key provisions of the treaty is an obligation on the publicly recognised nuclear club — America, England, France, Russia and China — to divest themselves of these weapons on a phased and verifiable basis.

The US has not only publicly rejected this obligation but has taken two steps in the opposite direction.

It has abrogated to itself the right to a nuclear ‘first-strike’, even against a non-nuclear state, and it has also expressed its determination to put weapons in space.

The chances of an accidental nuclear exchange or a ‘dirty’ nuclear weapon being used by some terrorist group is now higher than at any time since the 1960s.

The principle of total security for one state, the US, at the expense of most others is a dangerous delusion in an era of weapons of total destruction. All states with nuclear weapons must work to eliminate them — that is the only realistic way to ensure that other countries will not pursue their ‘right’ to acquire these weapons to protect themselves from those that do.

Con Hayes

Kerry Road

Tower

Blarney

Co Cork